[mythtv-users] HELP! I want my mythtv!

Sat Apr 12 23:54:50 UTC 2014

On 04/12/2014 07:47 PM, Hika van den Hoven wrote:
> Hoi Joseph,
>
> Sunday, April 13, 2014, 1:29:55 AM, you wrote:
>
>> On 04/12/2014 06:21 PM, Hika van den Hoven wrote:
>>> Hoi Joseph,
>>>
>>> Sunday, April 13, 2014, 12:03:59 AM, you wrote:
>>>
>>>> I am running a mythbuntu 12.04 install on a FE/BE box. I am using a 500
>>>> gig system drive and then setup a striped raid with mdadm using two 2tb
>>>> drives - all sata. Well, One of my raid drives finally died and I have
>>>> replaced it physically only. My problem is that I cannot get mythbuntu
>>>> to boot. It keeps booting to the busybox initram prompt no matter what I
>>>> do.
>>>> I get the normal prompt to bypass the raid mounting and I have tried
>>>> selecting either Y or N and I still get to the busybox initram prompt.
>>>> Drive /dev/sda shows fine in checking the the smart data. Short test ran
>>>> fine. Drive also mounted just fine in test box with hot swap bays.
>>>> My thinking is that because the raid I use for storage of recordings is
>>>> not available mythbuntu just pukes and goes to the busybox initram
>>>> prompt no matter what.
>>>> I would like to recover this and not have to do a complete reinstall.
>>>> Frankly, I didnt like mythbuntu because of network issues after updates
>>>> caused me fits. I used to use fedora for my mythtv but didnt like the
>>>> constant upgrading.
>>>> Any help on how you would recover this?
>>>> Joseph
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>>>> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>>> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
>>>> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>>> Give some more info about what it says it fails at.
>>> Also to disable the raid start remark the relevant lines in
>>> /etc/mdadm.conf. Also remark out the relevant lines in your
>>> /etc/fstab so it won't try to mount absent volumes.
>>>
>>> Tot mails,
>>>     Hika                            mailto:hikavdh at gmail.com
>>>
>>> "Zonder hoop kun je niet leven
>>> Zonder leven is er geen hoop
>>> Het eeuwige dilemma
>>> Zeker als je hoop moet vernietigen om te kunnen overleven!"
>>>
>>> De lerende Mens
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> mythtv-users mailing list
>>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>>> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
>>> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>>>
>> Hello Hika,
>> Basically this is what I have:
>> /dev/sda - 500 gig system drive running mythbuntu 12.04 and mythtv .27
>> /dev/sdb - raid device 1 - 2tb drive member of /dev/md127
>> /dev/sdc - raid device 2 - 2tb drive member of /dev/md127
>> Since the raid device 1 died I no longer have a raid. So, I thought -Ok,
>> I will pickup another drive and build a new raid with it. All the data
>> is gone. I understand that and can live with it.
>> However, With the raid non existent the system will not load all the way
>> and during the boot process it comes to a prompt asking if I want to
>> skip loading a degraded raid. Doesnt matter if I choose yes or no. It
>> will then drop to a Initramfs prompt in busybox. So, I cannot start the
>> operating system without my raid intact. This leads me to the question
>> of - "How do you repair a raid if it the system will not boot without a
>> raid?" - To me that is so stupid.
>> Very similar to this bug report:
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/initramfs-tools/+bug/778520
>> Evidently, Nothing has been done about it and its still going on.
>> I did remove my mdadm.conf file as its useless now. But the system is
>> still looking for /dev/md127 which no longer exists really. I tried the
>> boot argument for not loading the raid but that seems to not work. I
>> will try removing my mount statement for the raid in fstab though.
>> Is that enough info?? let me know.
> The kind of raid array you used cannot be rebuild, since half the data
> is gone.
> Did you physically remove both the died and the surviving drive? The
> kernel will on startup find the raid signatures on the drives. The
> numbering '/dev/md127' indicates an automatically detected raid which
> the kernel tries to start readonly. You can remove that signature
> with: mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/<your-physical-device> or just
> disconnect them for now.
>
> Tot mails,
>    Hika                            mailto:hikavdh at gmail.com
>
> "Zonder hoop kun je niet leven
> Zonder leven is er geen hoop
> Het eeuwige dilemma
> Zeker als je hoop moet vernietigen om te kunnen overleven!"
>
> De lerende Mens
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>
I will go up and disconnect the drives right now and see if I can boot. 
Anyways, I found a very interesting thread at Ubuntu Forums about this 
from way back as far as 2011 and the problem is still not fixed. Here is 
a qoute from what I have read so far that applies to me:

-------------------- This is a qoute below ----------------------
DANGER - DO NOT USE UBUNTU 12.04 IF YOU HAVE ANY SOFTWARE RAID

There is a race condition that randomly marks good RAID arrays as 
failed. This triggers an error that, due to another bug, ignores the 
"bootdegraded=true" kernel work-around parameter. The end result is you 
end up in an initramfs shell called "busybox" that is a blackhole of 
doom and downage.

----------- End of qoute -------------------

Thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1861516&page=5

I will try disconnecting drive and see what I can do.

Joseph